Gas prices in New York rose as fast as floodwaters in New Orleans, after a 50-cent overnight spike took gas as high as $3.55 a gallon. With crude production and refining capacity down in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, motorists had to dig deep to stay on the road.

“This is getting to be too much,” said Ricardo Sanchez, 34, a truck driver, as he filled up in Riverhead, L.I., where a gallon of regular hit $3.19. “It’s hard to spend $50 every time you go to the pump. But what are you going to do? Not drive?”

A BP station in East Northport, L.I., was selling fuel for $3.55, according to the consumer Web site newyorkgasprices.com, which shut down several times yesterday because so many people were logging on looking for discounts.

Experts say it will be a while before the trend reverses.

“Without a doubt, cost is up significantly,” said Robert Sinclair, a spokesman for the Automobile Club of New York.

President Bush said yesterday he will tap the nation’s oil reserves to give refineries a temporary supply of crude to make up for lost deliveries from tankers and offshore oil rigs affected by the storm.

“A lot of crude production has been shut down because of the storm,” Bush said. “This will help take some pressure off the gas price.”

Refineries – designed to fight wind and rain, but not the loss of electrical power – have lost more than 40 percent of their processing capacity, forcing retailers who control the pump to protect their inventory.

“They realize the next delivery, if they get it, is going to be far more expensive than what is bought and paid for that is already in the ground,” Sinclair said.

It could be three weeks before the refineries’ electrical power is restored.

Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency said it would temporarily waive Clean Air Act standards to maintain the country’s fuel supply, allowing consumers to use fuels previously deemed unclean.